Chapter 52: Chapter 52

The wall.

The mucky, stained wall was what her eyes had been fixed on.

Observing different patterns, bloody patterns, dangerous weapons on it had been her prime interest since last week. Those different patterns would often divert her attention from the human body hung to the ceiling. Her face was on purpose kept towards her and her eyes staring at Sheharzaad. Staring deep in her soul, stealing all the life left in her. Her feet that were dangling in the air with her hair sprawled open. Her skin which was now turning blue and the smell of the dead mass already arising from it. Once or twice she had spotted insects crawling on the dead woman's feet.

The dead woman who was none other than Khaleda.

The week that she had spent here, all alone with that dead body, with minimal human interaction, with little to no food. The only thing she had began craving was to find someone with whom she can atleast say a hello. The men who would come to serve her food won't even look towards her. In that past week, she got food served twice. The silent room would often growl from the sounds produced from her stomach. The first few days she thought he would have her out soon but the day elapsed nothing of that sort happened. The four dark walls won't let her breathe properly. When she wanted to stand the chains would snake around her ankles. When she wanted to move her hands the chains again would bound her tightly. Breathing alone was becoming difficult.

She felt frustrated. Not just the mental torture but also due to the physical torture that would instigate her mouth open and let her throat out relentless screams and cries, her voice banging against the wall and reflecting back in her ears. She would call out her loved ones but no one would answer her.

She felt alone.

So alone.

Desperate to get a human interaction that she began to wonder what would be on the other side of the walls that had encaged her.

When she would try looking up, she would see a dead woman's face that she knew would haunt her for her life. She knew his purpose  of Khaleda's body dangling in the same room as her, and that too infront her. And he was becoming successful in his purpose. That dead body would walk in her dreams alone, depriving her of her sleep too.

He paid one or two visits to her after him announcing of her as his personal escort and he was already expecting him to behave like that. And every time he countered her, despite knowing the consequences. He won't hesitate to hold back his force. He has gone livid, as if someone has turned on a switch in him. As one time, he came close to her while his eyes penetrated through her soul and simply demanded of the hand she held his hand with. She knew he was talking about Hannan but he didn't mention his name. She just tried pulling up an act and feigned ignorance, and that made him unleash at her. He slapped her again, and again, and again, until her cheeks were numb. He asked the question again and she just replied with whatever came in her mind, fearing him to death. That day he was close to breaking her finger

She would just feel immense rage and danger radiating off of him. That whenever the door of the cell would open dread would pool in her stomach. With every step he would proceed towards her, a whimper would escape her lips.

She would feel nothing but profound fear and agony.

As she was feeling now while his fingers were wrapped around her throat, cut-short her air supply with his mouth upon hers.

Her eyes-jutted out.

Mouth-parted open with his tongue invaded in

Toes curling inwards.

Hands- clawed at his hands that had grasped her neck.

It was a brutal kiss against the wall, stealing every ounce of her breath.

No words of apologies leaving her lips, no words begging for mercy were jolting life to her lips. Rather, with her arms wide opened she was awaiting death.

And that dirt-filled wall was going far-far from her vision. The room has became to feel spacious now. The little light that was coming from the small window seemed to expanding and filling the whole room. His face was blurred and the light became her sole focus. No prior feeling of the neck in steely hold could be felt.

Was this death?

Had she died?

She felt at peace...

Before the smile could make its way on her lips, she felt the same light drifting away from her, the wall that had gone away coming closer, the fingers around in her neck could be felt again yet not as tight as before. She could feel her body, without her permission, drinking in oxygen.

No. Don't do this.

She called out to herself yet her lips were parting open more and more to suck oxygen-as an instinct, her consent wasn't considered for this action.

Let me die.

She called out again but not even her body listened to her as the darkness again sprawled infront her eyes, the wall was back on its place, Khaleda's dangling feet again came into her vision and she was now sprawled on the ground coughing heavily, spitting with every cough.

Her face next to the tip of his shiny black shoe.

"I curse you," she whispered, when her coughs had died down and she was laying lifelessly on the floor, staring at his shoe.

He bent down and grasped her by her shoulder before pulling her up and letting her sit n the chairs as he began to chain her arms and legs again. A tear dropped from her eye as the clanking of metal chains striked her ear.

"Eh?" he asked, while encaging her wrists that already had red marks on them, "but I feel like you will now curse me more," he uttered. He had become so emotionless. So void of every ounce of humanity. Ignoring the plead in her eyes, the same pleads he once used to pay heed, occasionally. That was the most inhumane and cruel version of him she ever came over.

Yet she didn't know there was more to come.

"You've to sign this Sheharzaad." He declared, sitting proudly in front of her and placed a piece of paper on the table infront her.

Her eyes ran over on the content of the page only to get more widened and more tears propelling out of her eyes. Rage taking over her as she forgot who was infront her. A sob escaping her throat knowing how cornered and helpless she was. In the end, whatever mentioned in the contract was suppose to happen. It was inevitable. But she wasn't accepting it as she looked up with enraged eyes, pushing back the hopelessness that was clawing at her mind.

"You and your contract both can go to hell. I'd never agree to this!" She spated with venom in her voice. Her state disheveled with her messy hairs demonstrating the amount of times he has roughly gripped her hair, her lips splitted a bit from a side indicating his harsh slaps whenever she disrespected him and her voice croaky yet confident indicating her bone crushing sobs and wails whenever she was alone in this warehouse.

"My Shehrzaad." He said pensively, his eyes focused on hers.

A fire of fear erupted in her heart when her name rolled off his tongue so smoothly, signaling her that his sadistic mind was upto something.

He stood up and moved towards her causing her to instantly turn her head to the the other side manifesting her disdain for him. Reaching her, he roughly pulled her head back and dug his fingers into her cheeks causing her lips to pucker out. He moved closer and closer, until his face was parallel to hers.

And then his features morphed as he unlocked the real demon inside him causing her heart to beat erratically as the mask of her strong facade begin to go off.

His eyes showed the glint of anger.

While hers were somehow trying to express calmness and fearlessness.

The lethal and pure combination of Grey against grey.

"It's totally upon you if you don't want to agree,"

His lips smirked. An evil smirk, which was enough for her to know he is upto no good.

Grabbing her hair from the nape of her neck, he placed his knee in between her legs and moved his lips closer to her ear.

"But I'll kill that friend of yours," He whispered and a lone tear escaped her eye.

'No!'

"I won't be your mistress," she managed to whisper, though the fear and shock was gripping her heart painfully, clenching it tight.

"And you will leave from here either dead or as my personal escort, Sheharzaad," he deadpanned.

"Kill me!" she cried out now out of desperation, "please, please kill me!" she sobbed.

"Given up so easily?"

"Yes. I don't want to live. Death is better than this life full of humiliation! Please kill me!" She was so desperate that her head hung low as she sobbed.

He smirked, "death will be a gift for you," he said and then barked to men stationed outside the cell, "bring him in!"

The door opened and a badly beaten Hannan was brought inside.

......

The gun in her shivering hands and her begging eyes staring at Shehryaar, pleading him not to make her go through the ordeal. Her hands were still shivering of the prior two bullets that had left the nozzle and penetrated Hanna's shoulder and abdomen. He was at the verge of death and one last bullet was left in revolver.

She had been given a choice to either to shoot one of those three bullets directly in his heart or brain or shot those three bullets one by one into his abdomen. She tried, raising gun, aiming at his heart and Hannan's subtle nod made her close her eyes and she shot above his heart which penetrated his shoulder.

Blood began to spurt out of the wound. He was already dwindling in and out of life as he had been poorly beaten, especially in the areas of his hand and his lips.

His hands-that dared touching her.

"I swear, Shehryaar, I wasn't involved with him," she said the umpteenth time. Despite him shoving those videos on her face and the witnesses, she made a futile attempt to deny and change his mind.

She was never involved with Hannan.

"Do as I have said," he ignored her cries.

"Fine it was me, who approached him.... it was never him," she cried out.

His eyes slightly wide open in surprise.

The fucking nerve

The audacity.

'She is protecting his lover infront of me'

"Do as I fucking said!" he snapped and she flinched, nodding.

Her shivering hands rose again and she could just shot at his lower abdomen as he had mentioned to shoot Hannan in another area in his abdomen if she was not interested in killing him. And rest, he will do the job.

The job of brutally killing him with his own hands.

With the third and last bullet, if he didn't die by her hands she would hand over his fate with her own hands to Shehryaar and he will kill her with his bare hands infront her. This was what he had promised.

Her whole body which had now drenched in sweat.

Shivers.

Tremors.

Tremors of terror rocking her.

Her whole lower jaw was shivering. The adrenaline level was so high that every now and then a series of goosebumps would rise over skin, shivers would pass through her spine. Her limbs had no energy left in them.

The gun itself was so heavy and her hands couldn't hold it anymore so he placed one of his hands on the gun to support her and his lips next to her ear. Both of them looking towards Hannan. One with hawk like assured eyes and the other with fear filled eyes.

"Please don't make me do this," she whispered for his ears only, "please,"

"Save me, Sheharzaad. Please!" Hannan pleaded.

"Fire the bullet, Sheharzaad,"  he whispered near her ear.

"Why..." she gulped, "why are you doing this?"

At this, his head turned towards her and she too looked at him with sweaty eyes. Her soul was shaking at this point.

His eyes flickered to her lips that were so close to his. Breaths apart.

"Because you allowed him to touch what's mine. Because you allowed him to get closer to you when you solely belonged to me. Because you were in an affair with him while engaged to me," he uttered and captured her lips in a brief kiss. She felt as if the incident of working with Khaleda was long forgotten from his mind and now he just wanted to punish her for getting close with Hanna. The situation was complicated. If she told the truth that Hannan approached her and she never passed him any sort of signals, it would lead all the garb on him and if she would lie that they were never involved, which was partially true, then he had all the proofs or if she said, as she just uttered, that it was her approaching him then she felt he already had planned something for her in this regard. She was cornered in all the ways.

Sheharzaad never realized when her finger on the trigger was forced back, pulling the trigger, the gun recoiling and the bullet releasing from the nozzle travelling all the way to Hannan's body.

Sheharzaad couldn't even move her head to the left to see the havoc her finger had created. Her hand which held the gun was still struck in the air and so were her eyes, captivated by his, not moving an inch. Her lips that were subjected to kiss had began shivering and her teeth began to clatter.

"Boom," Shehryaar emphasized, widening his eyes, "and you killed him," he snickered, staring intensely in her eyes and then slowly a smile made its way on his lips. A smile which never reached his eye. And he broke into a fit of laughters. Almost like a maniac. As if taking a human live was no deal for him, as if it was calming him.

"Take his body away," Shehryaar barked orders and immediately his men came and took his dead body away. She didn't turn around to check him. She didn't have the courage.

"You know who killed her?" he pointed towards Khaleda but her eyes were struck not looking anywhere yet her ears were able to decipher everything.

"And you know who killed him?" he asked again, near her ear but no response from her side and he wasn't expecting one either.

"These hands have blood now, Sheharzaad. As bloodied as my," Bringing his lips closer to her ear, he whispered so the words would sink in. Deep and deeper.

'Hannan's dead'

The voice said in her ears.

'You killed him'

Another voice said when her eyes landed on Khaleda's dead body hanging there.

'You killed her too.'

Her heart beat escalated and the gun from her hands dropped as she looked at her own hands. She could see blood spots on them.

Her hands were bloodied.

"I didn't kill him," she said more to herself while he straightened up and came infront her, "no... he didn't die.... no I didn't kill him," her eyes shot up to Khaleda, " I didn't kill her," she immediately looked away from her dead body, "I didn't kill anyone,"

Her face depicted the trauma, the mental torture she experienced in the last week over here, in this jail. Tied and alone.

"You killed her," she looked at Shehryaar while her hands were shivering as she held them up. One eyes down from his face to her hands again and she was still able to see blood on them.

"You killed him. I didn't kill anyone,"

"No. I didn't," he replied, "it was you, Sheharzaad,"

"Why would I kill someone as lowly as her?" he asked, bending a little so his eyes were paralleled with hers, "do you think she was the first spy installed around me. So why did I specifically choose to kill her?"

With his every word, her heart was skipping a beat.

"And why would I kill one of my company's employees, Sheharzaad? Hmn?"

She was tongue-tied. Not able to generate any response yet his words had began to make sense in her mind.

"Because you failed to understand that you," he pointed his fingers towards her and his eyes widened, emphasizing his point, "belong to Shehryaar Haider Syed,"

"You failed to understand that any men around you would land himself to hell and you into a deeper hell," he kept on talking while boring his eyes in hers, "you failed to understand that your strings are in my hands. That you are mine. Mine, Sheharzaad,"

"So it was never me who killed them. It was you. I had no reasons to kill them. You let them come close to you than the limit that I have set forth for you and their fate was sealed," he told, hitching her breath, his words playing with her mind, "You know, Sheharzaad," he tried tucking a stray strand of hair but she flinched and turned her face away, "this is just your mind trapping you to think of you being still an independent being while in real you are nothing but a possession of mine. Hannan's death should remain as a reminder to you for the rest of your life of your owner, and of the consequences," He was saying in a low whispery tone as if a demon would whisper in someone's ears to carve the words in, "as your consequences, your deeper hell has just began, my darling," he came near to her ear, "and by the end of it you will just remember one name,"

He straightened up, while poking his tongue on his inner cheek and inhaling a sharp breath. Giving her a last look, he began to walk away when her words hit his ears, "I don't belong to you," It wasn't above a faint, fearful whisper but he heard it.

Her voice still held remnants of determination.

And now he was hell bent on breaking it.